Vertical venetian blinds



March 17, 1970 HIDEHIRO ENDOU vmnmm, VENETIAN smuns 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 6. 1967 Mull II? INVENTOR Hideh iro Endou AGENT March 17, 1970 HIDEHIRO ENDOU VERTICAL VENETIAN BLINDS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 6. 1967 INVENTOR Hidehiro Endou AGENT March 17, 1970 HIDEHIRO ENDOU VERTICAL VENETIAN BLINDS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 7 Filed NOV. 6, 1967 ONQ I O r h e d H BY AGENT March 17, 1970 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Nov. 6, 1967 INVENTOR' Hideh iro Endou AGENT United States Patent 3,500,896 VERTICAL VENETIAN BLlNDS Hidehiro Endou, Noda, Japan, assignor to Yokota Kinzoku Kogyo Inc., Tokyo, Japan Filed Nov. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 680,732 Int. Cl. E061! 09/26, 09/264 U.S. Cl. 160-168 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Vertical Venetian blind slats are slidably and rotatably mounted at their upper ends in a channel extending across the space over which the blinds are to be used. A carriage is at the head of each slat and has a rotatable hook at its lower end, receiving a loop at the end of the slat. A screw and a grooved shaft extend horizontally in the channel and have operative connection with a nut and a worm in each carriage. The worm is rotated by a worm gear engaging the grooved shaft. The carriage is moved longitudinally by the nut engaging the screw. The screw and the shaft are rotated by a chain and pulley means, at the head end of the channel, connected by suitable gears to the screw and the shaft. A pair of adjustably positioned magnet carriages are positioned to support the shaft and screw to prevent sagging.

This invention relates to a modification of a vertical Venetian blind.

When a vertical Venetian blind with slats, each of which is rotated along its vertical axis and is traversed, is mounted on a very wide window, the screw for rotation of slats and the shaft for traversing of slats would sag due to their own Weight. Accordingly, when the shaft is rotated, it becomes noisy by striking the screw and do es not rotate smoothly.

It is an object of this invention to obviate such objectionable features. This invention presents a novel mechanism which keeps the screw and the shaft in a horizontal position and makes traversing of slats smooth.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1

FIG. 6A is an enlarged elevation of a carriage for a blind, looking from the middle to the right as in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6B. is an elevation of the other half looking to the left as in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of a master carriage;

FIG. 8 is a left side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a right side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a view taken along line 1010 of FIG. 7;

FIG. 11A is an elevation of a right side portion as in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11B is an end elevation of the carriage as in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11C is a plan view of a nut for the screw;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a left side of magnet carriage;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged fragmentary view partly in section, of a right side of magnet carriage;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged front elevation of a control cap, and

FIG. 15 is a left side view of a control cap.

A slat 1 is suspended by means of a hook 4 attached ice under a carriage 3 which is mounted for reciprocating movement in channel 2. A weight plate 5 is connected at the lowermost portion of a slat 1. The slats 1 are connected adjacent their lower ends to one another by chains 6. The carriage 3 comprises two half members, formed of synthetic resins, through which a screw 7 and a grooved shaft 8 respectively pass. A worm 11, connected with the upper end of the hook 4, is supported in an opening 12. The shaft passes through the hole 10 and a worm gear 13 is supported within the opening 14 and meshes with the word 11. The worm gear 13 is annular and the shaft passes therethrough and there are three projections 16 in the worm gear 13 which fit the three longitudinal grooves 15 in the shaft 8. Accordingly, when the shaft 8 is rotated, the worm gear 13 is rotated and turns the worm 11 which results in rotation of the slat 1. Both halves of the carriage 3 cmbrace the worm 11 and the worm gear 13 and are positioned by means of fitting projections 17 of one half into holes 17' of the other half. Axles 18 are mounted on one-half of the carriage and each carries a wheel 19. The upper central part of the carriage 3 has a depressed portion 21 in which a spacer 20 is mounted for connecting one carriage to another. At both sides of depression 21, laterally extending projections 22 are affixed in order to prevent accidental removal of the spacer 20. a

As mentioned above, a slat supporting mechanism is provided in both holes 9 and 10, through which screw 7 and the shaft 8 pass, respectively. The carriages 3 are supported by wheels 19 traveling on a pair of flanges 23 in the channel 2. In the channel 2, a master carriage 24 is mounted to the right in FIG. 1, and at the end of a group of carriages 3, and two magnet carriages 25, 26 are placed in the channel 2 for the purpose of keeping the screw 7 and the shaft 8 from sagging. As shown on FIGS. 7 to 11, the master carriage 24 has two carriage parts 27 and 28 which are mounted in a body 29. The carriage part 27 is of the same construction as the carriage 3 and suspends the slat 1. The carriage part 28 has two halves made of synthetic resins and they have holes 31 and 30, respectively, through which the screw 7 and the shaft 8 pass. It has a hook-shaped passage 31 that goes through from the middle part of lower edge to the hole 31. A nut 32 is connected threadedly with the screw 7 in the holes 31 and is supported by means of fitting the hook-shaped part 33 in the passage 31. Two halvees of the carriage 28 are connected with each other as two halves of the carriage 3 are connected. On the both sides of the upper part of one of the halves, there are wheel axles 34 on which wheels 35 are rotatably mounted. When the halves are connected, a depression or recess 36 is provided for receiving the spacer 20, and at the both sides of it, laterially extending projections 22 are formed. The body 29 is made of synthetic resins. The carriages 27 and 28 are adequately spaced by means of intermediate members 38 which are snugly fitted between the side members 39 and 40. The inserts 42 and 43 have grooves 44 into which lugs 45 on elements 38, 39 and 40 fit. They are positioned laterally by ribs 41. The end member 39 extends downwardly to the axis line of the holes 30 and 31 of the carriage 27 and it has semicircular grooves 46 with the same diameter of the holes 30, 31. The other end member 40 projects below the lower edge of the channel 2 and has holes 47 and 48 through which the screw 7 and the shaft 8 pass and by means of which they are rotatably supported. Furthermore, the end member 40 has an adhesion member 50 such as iron plate in a circular depression 49 at the front face of the lower central part.

The magnet carriage 25 is made of synthetic resins, and has holes 51 and 51 through which the screw 7 and the shaft 8 pass. On the rear face of the lower central part of the magnet carriage 25. The magnet 54 is fitted in a depression 53 which is positioned to be opposite the adhesion member 50 of the master carriage 24. At the upper end at both sides of it, wheel axles 55 are attached and wheels 56 are mounted on them. The magnet carriage 26 is made of synthetic resins, at the both ends of which the screw 7 and the shaft 8 pass through respectively. It has holes through which the screw 7 and the shaft 8 pass slidably, only one, 58, being shown and also has a slightly concave portion 60 on which an adhesion member 61 is mounted. On the upper edges of both sides of it, wheel axles 62 are fixed and the wheels 63 are mounted on them. Both magnet carriages 25 and 26 in this example are arranged reversely in their mechanism but are similar in structure.

The stops 66 and 67 are attached to the edge at 65 in order to limit motion of the magnet carriages 25 and 26 backward. They are removable and easily adjusted to any desired position. The screw 7 and the shaft 8 are not only supported by the magnet carriages 25 and 26, but also by a cap 68 at the one end of the channel 2 and by the control cap 69 mounted at the other end. The screw 7 and the shaft 8 are rotated by means of endless chains 70 and 71 respectively, as will appear later.

In order that every carriage 3 and the master carriage 24 may move the slats across a window, each spacer 20 has downwardly extending projections 72 to fit with the bottom edge of the depression 21 of a carriage 3 and the master carriage 24 and has the grooves 73 to pass the projections 22 formed at the depression 21 of the carriage. The spacer 20 has an upward hook 74 adapted to be hooked with the projections 22 of an adjacent carriage and has downwardly projecting portions 72 1 adapted to engage the depression 21 of an adjacent carriage 3. In setting the spacer 20 with the master carriage 24, it is placed on the carriage 27 and a setting plate 75 is fastened by means of a pin 96 on the face of the central member 38 of the body part 29. The carriage 3, being at one end of a row, abuts a stop 76 attached to the screw 7 and the shaft '8.

In the control cap 69, the gears 79 and 80 are mounted rotatably between a sideboard 77 and a subboard 78; gear 79 is located adjacent the subboard and gear 80 adjacent the sideboard, and are at the end of the screw 7 and the shaft 8, respectively. Below gears 79 and 80 are respectively gears 81 and 84 rotatably mounted on a shaft 87. A pulley 83, which is attached to the gear 81 meshes with the gear 79, and another pulley 86, on the shaft 87, is attached to the gear 84 which meshes with the gear 80. An endless chain 71 passes about the pulley 83, and an endless chain 70 passes about the pulley 86.

In the above described mechanism mentioned, manipulating the chain 71 causes rotation on the screw 7, the master carriage 24 with the nut 32 engaged with the screw 7 moves forward, each of the carriages 3 connected to one another by means of the spacers 20 moves in order, and when the master carriage 24 approaches the magnet 54, the adherence member 50 is attracted, and the carriage 24 connects with the magnet carriage 25. The connected carriages go forward just as they are and when they get close to the magnet carriage 26, and by continuing moving forward until the magnet carriage 26 reaches the end of the channel 2. Each of carriages 3 and the slats 1 has now been made ready for opening or closing.

When it is desired to rotate the slats to open or close,

the chain is operated and the shaft 8 rotates. The worm gear 13 of each carriage 3 and the master carriage 24 is rotated by the projections 16 engaging the grooves in the shaft 8. The worm 11 and the slats 1 are caused to rotate by meshing of the worm gear 13 with the worm 11. Thus, all of the slats can be rotated from a position where they are substantially parallel to a position where they are substantially in a plane.

When it is desired to draw the slats 1 back across a window, the screw 7 is rotated by means of pulling the chain 71 reversely and the master carriage 24 moves back taking with it the magnet carriages 25 and 26; The master carriage 24 pushes back the carriages 3 also. In going back, the magnet carriage 26 is stopped by means of the stop 67 fixed on the channel 2 with projecting edge 57, and the magnet carriage 25 is separated from it and moved back by rotation of screw 7. The magnet carriage 25 is stopped by means of the stop 66 and the master carriage 24 is separated from it and continues to push the carriages 3 back to their position, wherein the window is unobstructed.

On the example mentioned above, the vertical Venetian blind is a one side open system, but in a two side open system a magnet carriage should be installed between the master carriages on both sides.

Having now described my invention in a preferred form, I desire it to be understood that further changes and improvements may be made within the skill of the art and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A vertical Venetian blind mechanism comprising a U-shaped channel, a train of carriages coupled for travel along the channel, means mounting a blind slat on each carriage, a longitudinally extending rotatable shaft and screw in said channel, means connecting said shaft with each blind mounting means for rotating the blind slat, means connecting the lead carriage of the train with the screw for driving the said lead carriage along the channel, at least one supporting truck mounted for travel along the channel between the lead carriage and the end of the channel and rotatably supporting the shaft and screw, means coupling the lead carriage and truck for moving the truck away from the end of the channel and means carried by the channel for uncoupling the carriage and truck at a selected point of travel of the truck along the channel, the means coupling the lead carriage and truck comprising a magnet carried by either said carriage or truck member and a magnetic material carried by the other of said members.

2. A device as defined in claim 1 further including a stop carried by the channel for limiting the movement of the truck away from the end of the channel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,828,817 4/1958 Achler et al. 168 2,871,934 2/1959 Harter 160173 2,993,535 7/1961 Taylor 160173 3,022,549 2/1962 Cummings.

3,038,534 6/1962 Cayton 160-173 3,054,446 6/1962 Cayton 160-173 3,134,428 5/1964- Kehrer et al 160176 X PETER M. CAUN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 160-173. 178 

